Characteristics of an anomalous orbital debris population inferred from theoretical modeling

We construct a low fidelity thermal model to facilitate characterization of an anomalous orbital debris population believed to be NaK reactor coolant that leaked from the nuclear reactors of a now defunct class of Soviet Rada r Ocean Reconnaissance Satellites. The model is used to assess the probable state of the debris; it is concluded that these debris are in the liquid s tate. This result is then applied to a low-fidelity evaporation model to as sess whether evaporation causes a change in area to mass ratio on time scal es equal to or shorter than the approximate orbital lifetime. It is conclud ed that the time scale for significant evaporation of the droplet is much l onger than the orbital lifetime and that orbital lifetime is not significan tly influenced by evaporation of the droplets.